The Tan Tans met and fell in love in 2001, got married on 13 June 2008, lived in Owase, Japan for a year and are now back in Singapore. They share a common passion and obsession for food and cooking. This blog is about their experiences in Japan, their food adventures and other things that matter.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

A trip to Matsumoto & Hakuba Day 2

Day 2 in Nagano was an early start with the Tan Tans visiting the famous ski jump competition ground during the Winter Olympics in 1998 before breakfast was served at 0730hrs. It was quite a nice place other than there was no snow since it’s summer already… ;(

Measurements for the landing zone. All the pros landed beyond 120 metres.

After the breakfast, the Tan Tans took a stroll around the area near the Minshuku that they were staying in and discovered a shrine as well as a small playground. It was just a great lazy morning

Saw tons of daisy.

Nice shrine with a huge sacred tree.

Swing!! Tan Tans loved it!

Departing from the minishuku that the Tan Tans stayed in. The Tan Tans were also told that for the wild plants cuisine, one have to book it one week in advance.

Our second stop for the day is a popular ski resort in winter but was turned into a natural park in summer (or spring in Nagano area). Tsugaike Natural Park

Before taking the cable car ride the Tan Tans chanced upon this race that took place. Cycling upslope to a height of 1,860m was no joke. Hats off to all of them.

The Tan Tans were overjoyed with the sight of snow though Mr Tan Tan was not really geared for this.

However, Mr Tan Tan could not resist the wonderful wild strawberries soft-serve that was waving to him and calling out “eat me. . . eat me”

Entrance to the natural park… love the snow alps behind though it would be even more fabulous if the sky were clear.

This was the mizu basho or skunk cabbage that we were there for. From what we learned, it’s impossible to plant this and hence, can only be found in the wild.

The Tan Tans had to hike through dirty melting snow which ain’t easy with the stupid shoes that they were wearing.

After the tough hike, the Tan Tans had the best soba in Japan. Shinshu Soba. It was served on a traditional bamboo tray and Mr Tan Tan version came in 3 dipping sauces. From left to right. First sauce is daikon (radish) juice and it’s meant to be mixed with the miso paste, spring onion and bonito flakes (white tray just above it), second sauce was the traditional Japanese dip for soba which consist of soy sauce with dashi (stock made with bonito flakes and kombu {seaweed}) and it’s meant to be mixed in with the wasabi, spring onion and grated daikon (tray on top). Lastly, the final dip was the most interesting and it was made with Kurome or walnut. Extremely great dipping the noodles between the 3 sauces and the sauces were not wasted as a pot of water (from boiling the soba) was brought to the table and it was to be added to the sauces becoming sort of a soup.

The next stop was the last stop before the Tan Tans had to make their way back to Owase. It was a famous Wasabi farm in Nagano area and one of the main producer of Wasabi in Japan.

And the first thing that Mr Tan Tan did upon arrival? Have a nice cool Wasabi soft-serve, what else do you expect?

Left: Watermill channelling the cool and clear river water in the farm

Right: Wasabi plants. The Tan Tans were told that wasabi can only grow in places where there are constant flow of clean and cold water. A shortage of any of the factors and you cannot grow any wasabi. Maybe that explain for the not so cheap prices of fresh wasabi.

Saw this river fish in the water, that explained how clean the water is. A further 10mins walk led the Tan Tans to a small shop selling grilled river fish.. hmmmm

The wasabi with the “special promotion of 3 for 1,000yen ($14) as well as the more expensive 1 for $2,500 yen. ($32) The Tan Tans wondered what was the difference.

With the wasabi nuts that the Tan Tans purchased, they made their way back to Owase and bid farewell to Nagano.